if you ain't first, you last.

I would definitely trust McKay's ideas about American society's idiosyncrasies after watching Borat and Talladega Nights. These films really illustrate so many things about what's right and wrong with America. These movies and others about the average and not-so-average American lifestyle pick out and make a show out of the silly and backward things we do that we never think about outside of our own perspective. I think American culture in movies is obsessed with our rampant commercialism, general themes of a sexual nature, and generally low emotional and moral aptitude. We pay for water in bottles, go out of our way to idolize the the Pamela Andersons of our generation, watch cars drive in ovals and call it a sport, and hate our day jobs. These are probably the most glorious of traits as a nation, but instead things that are undoubtedly American. We're proud of what makes us unique, not necessarily successful. Americans don't need any help feeling national pride, so the things that set us apart become the things that matter most (and the easiest things to make fun of.)